Self-closing bleed cock for air brakes



June 16, 1925.

R. G YOUNT SELF CLOSING BLEED COCK FOR AIR BRAKES Filed Sept. 2; 1924 gwue/wtoz v 3.61 Youn i i The object of "thegpres'ent invention is to being in elevation Patented June 16, 1925.

ATEE NT omen.

' laosseeyouurior .caewxem, CAL FORNIA,

seer -e osmes n COCK m f Application filed September Be it known thatI, :Ross GL, 'YOUNT, a citizen of" the United"States,rresidingat Calwa City, in the county of Fresno and State of Qalifornia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Self-Closing Bleed Cocks fonAir Brakes, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings. leed cocks for This invention relates to air brake cylinders.

The ordinary bleed cock "which is used in connection with an air brake cylinder only remains openfso long as the operator holds the cock o en, which he does until the" brakes are re eased.

provide a bleed cock forair brakes which will'be heldbpen for a certain length 05 timeand will then automatically close and return to its original "condition. 7

A further object is to provide a device of this character which is very simple, can be readily operated, cheaply made, and readily applied' 7 j Other objects will appear'in the course of the following description.

-My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein Figure 1, is a i'vertioal sectional view through a bleed cock constructed in accordance'with my invention;

Figure 2 is an elevation ofthe bleed cock partly broken away;'; i 4

Figure 3 is a fragmentary; sectional vie through the stem 20, thewallorflange 16 tral aperture .16; Disposed fwithin I the chamber 14 is a valve 17fhaving a down- 'wardly extending stern 18 which passes loosely through'the aperture 16. r

f Mounted in a bearing in the sidejwall'lfl of the body: below the wall-15 is a spindle 20 which carries upon it inside the chamber 21*the disk 22 having-acircular opening 2," 1924,. Serial 110. 735,453; a

23 eccentric to the center of the disk, The

disk itself iseccentricallymounted upon the spindle 20. Extending from the stem 18 is a pin 24 which extends. into the opening 23, the pin being much smaller than the opening, as shown in Figure: 2. Mounted upon 'the' exterior of the spindle 20' isla -lever25, the lower end of which is weighted,

as at 26, and "the-upper end of which is pivoted to a pull rod 27 whereby the lever may be operated. It will be understood, of course, that the disk '22 is fast upon the spindle 20 and oscillates therewith, The chamber 14- has leading from a point'above the wall 15 a duct 28 which'extends downand down through the nipple 11; 7

The cap 12 has mounted thereon a downwardly extending bracket 29 uponwhich pivoted a lever 30, one end of this lever havward through the side wall of the body 10 v ingf'a depending weighted portion 31, the

other end of thelever being longitudinall'y 'slotted' The cap 12 is formed to provide an air duct 32 extending out through the sidewall of the cap, and operating with-' in this air 'duct is a needle valve 33," the lower end of which is engaged by a pin "34 with the lever 30. When the-weighted end 31 of the lever 30 is depressed by the weight 31, the needle valve closes the duct end of the lever is raised the needle valve 33 permits thedischarge of air from 'the chamber" 14. l

' It will be understood, of course, thatthis bleed valve or cock is connected to the aux- I ilia'ry reservoir and that, therefore, when the valve 17 is lowered to its seat the pressure of air within the reservoir "holds the valve 17 closed and thus the air is retained within the cylinder. When, however, it is desired to bleed a car and let all the air pressure escape out of the train line pipes "and brakes, the trainman operates the pull rod 27, which acts to rotate the lever 25 and the disk 22 and the wall of the circular aperture of the diskengages the pin 24 and acts 'to lift the stem 18, thus lifting the valve 17 from its'seat. After the valve- 17 has 'moved upward a certain amount, it strikes thedepending end 31 of the lever 30 Q and pushes this end of the lever upward,

withdrawing the needle valve from the duct 32 and permitting the escape of the air from the auxiliary rcservointhrough chainber 14. As soon as thls has occurred, the

of the port 32, while when the weighted pull 130d. may be released, ,but ,as long ,as there any air pressure in [-the; chamber the valve 1'? will be held up and thusthe valve 33 will be heldopen, NVhen the air pressure has been entirly relea se d, however,

the valve 17 drops and this permits the weighted end of the lever to descend, causing the closing of the. .ne edle.ya lve 3 3. ,[Phus it is not necessary for the trainman to hold the cook open until ;all, of the pressure in the ltra in line has been released and it "is merely necessary to hold the valve 17 closed to .its 'full extent and ,then {lift :it and the air pressure will be gradually relieved until it isreduced.to atmospheric pressure, when the valve 17 Y will drop to its normal position.

If atrain arrives at a station and ,has several cars to. setout onseveral "different tracks,thefpracticeais to first bleed the cars so-that the brakes will not stick while switching. 'lVith ylille bleeder, the trainmen are compel-ledito hold the bleedcock; open until the car is bled, which takes from :one i to, five ,minutes with each car. lVith my improved bleed cock, all that would benecessary-wouldbeto open thebleedcock andthen the tra-inmanpasses onto the next car vandthebleedrcocks wonld eventually close vthemselves after the car man will discover itorbe'fore ;he W,ill been that side of the car to release the-pull rod. Thiscauses low train line 'pressurejand 1neffective brakes.

.iThis is entirely prevented withwinybleed cock for thereason that it automaticallyrre- "sets itself as soon as all -of the pressure has been relieved. Most of the station switching -is;done by local freights and it=is onthese freight trains that the ordinary .bleed cock causes particular trouble. The time lost by the average trainman in bleeding the carsis from fifteen minutes to an'hour a day,

and assuming that fifteen minutes isused by each man of a train crew ofifive, it willbe obvious that there will be a loss of seventyfive minutes per day. It will be obvious that the saving of seventy-fiveminutes a day for I each train crew: willamount to a veryl'arge saving in the course ofthe year, even 1f .the

time'for operating the bleed cocks is reduced onlyaone-half,

rlVhile I haveparticularlydesigned this valve: for use with air brakes, I do not wish present style of to be limited thereto as it is obvious that it eish b fi s e arie y e ath p poses, nor do I wish to be limited to the exact construction illustrated as this might be changed in many "ways without departing trointhespiritof the invention as defined in the appended claims.

l'." A bleed cock of the character described including a dy havin eham xf lrme therein, there being aduct fromsthe interior of the ,chamber to one end of, the body, a valve disposed in said chamber, ,the chamber having an outlet opening, mea ns normally closing said outlet opening,,nianually operable means' for, lifting the valve, said manually oper.able means automatically returning to its normal position without. affecting the lifted valve, and ,means 'acted upon by the lifting of the valvepermittmg the escape of a air through said outlet openingand acting upon ,the rlesce1 1t,of. the valve to close said outlet opening.

2. A selt-closingflbleed cockfor air brakes comprising a body stormed at one-end for engagement ,withvan ,air brakel system, ,the

an ,air chamber, there being, ,a duct leading from the first named. end of ,the body into said air chamber, a wall forming the lower end of sald chamber and {having ahpassage,

a ,valve disposed within tlieffirst named chamber and having a I st em extending downward through said passage, manually ,cperablemeans carried :by the lo\ve1 end',of the body and adapted to be shifted from its normal position to lift thevalve andautomatically return to its normal positionwithout affecting ;the lifted valve, theiic hamber having an ,o'utlet port, a valve normally closing said port, and means actuatedfbycthe lifting of the, first named I valve 1 acting to shift. the second named yalvefromits seat.

Ableedcoclgoflthe character described including a bodyl forinedtat one end .tor

engagement with an air brake system, the opposite end of, the body being formed with anJa'ir chamber, there being a duct} leading from the first named endof the body into said air chamber, a ,wall formingthelbottom of the vchamber and having 'a passage, a valve disposed withmithefirst named chamben and having astem extending downward through said passage, said valve being ,normally; disposed below the. outlet of the rfirst named duct, a pin projecting from the ste n,

a member disposed withingthe lower chamber and having.an,aperture into-,which said pin projects, the aperture being larger than the, pin, manually; operable ,means upon .the exterior of the valve sfor zoscillatingsaid member, and. means within ;t he; chamber acted upon by a lifting of the valve for establishing communication betwecngthe interior of thechamber and the ontsidepir.

4. A self-closing bleed cock for air valves from the first named end of the body into said air chamber, a walldefining the lower end of the chamber and having a passage, a valve disposed within the first named i chamber and having a'stem extending downward through said passage, the upper end of the chamber being formed with an air outlet port, a valve normally closing said port, a lever pivotally mounted Within the chamber and having one end engaged with said valve, the opposite end having a depending weighted portion adapted-to be engaged by the first, named valve when the valve is fully raised tothereby open the second named valve, and manually operable means for lifting the first named valve from its seat, said means permitting the first named valve to descend by its own weight.

5. A selfclosing bleed cock for air brakes comprising a body formed atone end with a reduced screw-threaded extremity for engagement in an air brake system and at the other end for screw-threaded engagement with a cap, a cap closing the last named end of the body and having an air outlet port formed therein, a valve for closing said port, a lever mounted upon the cap and disposed within the chamber and at one end engaging the valve, the other end of the lever having a depending weighted portion, the body being formedwith a longitudinally extending duct leading from the first named end of the body and into said chamber, the

lower wall of thechamber having a passage, a valve seating on said lower wall and having a dependingstem extending through said passage, the valve being normally disposed below the outlet of said duct, and manually operable means for raising said second named valve, said means permitting the second named valve after it is raised to descend under 1ts own weight.

6. A self-closing bleed cock for air brake cylinders comprising a body having a chamber formed therein, there being a duct leading from the interior of the chamber to one end of the body, the lower end of the chamber having a passage, a valve disposed in the chamber and normally below the inlet of said duct and having a screw extending downward through said passage, means in the upper end of the chamber whereby when thevalve is raised communication may be established between the outside air and the interior of the chamber and said communication disestablished when the valve is lowered, manually operable means for raising the valve including a pin projecting laterally from the projecting stem of the valve, a spindle extending through a side wall of the body, a disk eccentrically mounted upon the spindle and having an opening into which said pin projects, the pin being smaller than the opening, and a lever mounted upon said spindle on the exterior of the body, the lever having means at one end whereby it may be operated and being weighted at the other end.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature.

ROSS G. YOUNT. 

